If you are a newcomer to archery and have recently bought a compound bow there are several things to bear in mind. Safety is the paramount of any sport and hunting or archery is no different.

The number one rule with anything with this amount of power is: If you are afraid,Werder Bremen shirt, do not use it. You need to be comfortable with the equipment you have in your hands,Glasgow Rangers shirt, and this applies to bows as well as power tools and high powered saws and garden equipment.

The best place you can practice with your bow is at a shooting range, as these will have barriers and guidelines already set out. It is never acceptable to practice on your backyard since your house is too close together to someone elses – you can never be too sure where your arrow is going to land. This applies to any other open area although if you must shoot in an open wood of forest make sure it is away from public footpaths and it is somewhere that people rarely go; even then tape off your shooting area and make sure there is enough roughage around behind your target to catch any stray shots. If you are at a range and other people are walking towards their bull,Porto shirt, never ever take your shot.

Making sure you never harm someone else should always be a priority. Never shoot where there may be a risk involved. However,Paris Saint Germain shirt, you also have a duty to protect yourself.

At all times, wear protective clothing. An arm guard and a long sleeve shirt at the very minimum will help to keep you injury free. If you shoot without them you are more than likely to take some skin off you arm or hand and you will not be able to shoot again for a while. Long hair can also get in the way so you should be wearing suitable head hear or have it tied back at the very least.

If you are concerned about general safe practice with compound bows you should consider taking a safety lesson. These are often free at shooting ranges or at the most cost $10 and you will learn all about the safety measures involved. If you learn the proper skills from the start which includes this, you will be a better archer – or hunter – in the long run.

COLUMBIA Last week, Rock Bridge football coach A.J. Ofodile sent in junior quarterback Shawn Rush Jr. to spark the Bruins in a season-opening victory. After Rushs slow start Friday night, Ofodiles tried using junior quarterback Mark Pickerel to lift the Bruins. But it wasn’t enough, and Rock Bridge lost 31-14 to defending Class 6A champion Hazelwood Central on Friday night in the Bruins’ home opener.

Down 14-0, Pickerel came into the game and connected on a 46-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Sheldon Gerau midway through the second quarter to keep Rock Bridge within striking distance of the Hawks.

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• Rock Bridge senior defensive end Chase Rome runs onto the field at the start of Rock Bridge’s football game against Hazelwood Central on Friday night.
• Rock Bridge junior quarterback Mark Pickerel avoids a tackle from the Hazelwood Central defense Friday night. Central defeated Rock Bridge 31-14.
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Pickerel continued his solid play in the first half by putting the Bruins within a field goal when he hit Jay Bush in the end zone for a 39-yard touchdown pass with 10.4 seconds remaining.

Pickerel said the the team deserved credit for the late first-half success.

“We are a completely different team than last year,” Pickerel said. “We didnt roll over and die like our old team would have.”

After entering the second half only down three points, tired defense,Werder Bremen shirt, turnovers and missed assignments knocked the Bruins off course, and they watched Hazelwood Central run away with the game.

After three fumbles in the first half, Rock Bridge added two more turnovers after halftime.

“Our defense was out on the field way too much,” Pickerel said. “When they are getting no breaks, they are going to wear down and get tired.”

Pickerel also had a difficult time staying off the ground in the second half. Despite 46 rushing yards, Pickerel was sacked five times and finished the game with -7 yards. Ofodile said Pickerel shouldn’t be blamed for the losses on offense.

“Ninety-nine percent of the problems we had today were based on running backs missing assignments,Wales football shirt,” Odofile said. “The linebackers had good timing, and knew when to blitz.”

Despite losing, Pickerel said he is still optimistic.

“The team was really excited in the first half,Lazio shirt,” Pickerel said. “We saw that we could keep up with the No. 2 team in the state. We know we were capable of winning that game, we just made some mistakes at the wrong times. It could have easily been a very different score.”

The Tiger track and field team canceled the Missouri invitational that was slated for Saturday. Officials said the cold forecast, with a possible low of 25 degrees,South Africa football shirt, was the reason for the cancellation.

The Missouri baseball team’s series with Kansas State, in Manhattan, Kan.,Paris Saint Germain shirt, will now start at 3 p.m. Friday because of similar weather concerns.

MU SOFTBALL: First baseman Amanda Renth was recognized as a top 25 finalist for the Amateur Softball Association’s collegiate player of the year award. Renth is hitting .347 this year with 12 home runs and 45 RBIs.

ROCK BRIDGE GIRLS SOCCER: Blue Valley Northwest beat Rock Bridge 4-1 on Wednesday. Lauren Kelly scored the only goal for the Bruins off of a cross from Erin Bucko in the second half.

ROCK BRIDGE BASEBALL: The Bruins defeated Warrensburg 2-1 on Wednesday. Jordan Adrian got the win over the No. 2-ranked (3A) Tigers,Bordeaux shirt, and Nate Hall had the winning hit. Jordan Nietzel saved the game for the Bruins and had two hits. Ben Martin started the game and threw five no-hit innings in a no decision.

Columbia — It’s a cool fall morning, and senior Julia Hanson is stretching and preparing for an hour of cross country practice. A consistent jog begins what will be a lengthy day of class, practice and activities. Practice ends at 7:30 a.m., and she only has thirty minutes to get a shower in before her class at MU and the rest of her day begins. She has to hurry because, unlike all her other Stephens College classes, this one is off-campus.

Her MU class ends and the rush to class resumes as her next one is back at Stephens. Two hours of coursework later, Hanson takes a quick break for lunch and homework. Her schedule is just starting, though. There’s another class at 2:00 p.m., and an hour after that, she has to get to the writing lab where she volunteers as a tutor. The job is only supposed to be for two hours,Birmingham shirt, but she often finds herself leaving the lab at 6:00 p.m.. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, though, she has to leave at 5; she is a student-teacher at the Cedar Creek Therapeutic Riding Center, where she teaches disabled kids and adults how to ride horses — a rehabilitating activity emphasizing joint, muscle and balance therapy. Depending on the day, Hanson’s first semester schedule ends at either 6:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m., and she spends the rest of the night doing homework and sleeping.

Next semester, her daily load will lighten a little, but only slightly. She replaces early morning cross country practice with mid-afternoon swimming practice, and her class schedule, currently 21 credit hours, drops marginally to 18.

“Yeah, I pretty much have class all day and do homework all night,” Hanson said.

Her schedule has never been empty, though. Hanson has been a part of at least one school athletic team every year since her freshman year of high school, and only while on soccer scholarship at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, did she play on only one.

Hanson started filling her plate with activities a half an hour away from Coe in Mt. Vernon,Sevilla shirt, Iowa where she grew up and attended high school. During her high school career,Werder Bremen shirt, she played four sports and dabbled in a few others.

“I did soccer, volleyball for a year, and then I did cross country. I kind of did track, but they wouldn’t let me do track and soccer,” Hanson said. “And then I did softball for one summer.”

Of those four sports, Hanson excelled at two — cross-country and soccer. However, after she tore right ACL as a sophomore during soccer season, she was forced to sit out cross-country the following year. Still a team captain and present at all the meets, Hanson watched from the sideline as her team competed. For the first time since junior high, Hanson had a substantial amount of time away from sports. Incapacitated because of the injury, she grew frustrated with her inactive state.

“It was tough. I still went to all the events, but to not compete was hard.”

After a year of rehabilitation, Hanson regained her spot on the soccer team, and her talents would soon garner attention at the next level. Coe College saw enough potential in Hanson to offer her an athletic scholarship, but before leaving for school, she underwent another surgery on her knee. As a result, Hanson played her freshman year at Coe with some noticeable distress.

“I still wasn’t fully recovered from my injury. I had to wear a knee brace, and I wasn’t 100 percent.”

A year later, Hanson, still recovering from her knee injury, decided to transfer from Coe, opting for Stephens College. The draw of Stephens, though, wasn’t its soccer or cross-country programs — both nonexistent at Stephens at the time of her enrollment — but its equestrian program, which addressed a passion of Hanson’s since childhood.

“I started riding when I was five, and I’ve owned horses since I was six,” Hanson said. “I’ve been taking lessons up until now.”

Hanson had been participating in horse shows consistently throughout her time in Mt. Vernon, so when she came to Stephens, a school known for its equestrian program, Hanson thrived in the atmosphere, participating regularly in horse shows at the Midway Expo Center.

And while riding horses became the latest addition to her schedule, she also caught up on one sport and started a new one after coming to Columbia. Hanson took up swimming and restarted her career in cross-country. Because of her athletic ability, Hanson excelled at both. She started as the No. 2 runner her junior year — the inaugural season of the Stephens cross country program — but quickly moved up to No. 1 her senior year.

“She did a tremendous amount of work over the summer and transformed herself into a very strong No. 1 for us this year and ran times that were three minutes faster than last year,” cross country coach Dane Pavlovich said.

Hanson saw the culmination of her running talent senior year at the University of Evansville Invitational in October when she became the first runner in the program’s brief history to medal at an event and set a school record with a time of 20 minutes, 34 seconds.

In January,Celtic shirt, Hanson will start her final semester in collegiate athletics when she begins swimming, a sport she hasn’t competed in since middle school.

“Swimming has always come easy to me, but I’m not exactly the fastest swimmer on the team, I found out.”

Still, swimming coach Laura Wacker is eager to regain Hanson for the second half of the season after she missed the first half running cross country.

“I think (her running ability) can only help her this year,” Wacker said. “I’m looking forward to see how she does.”

When swimming ends, Hanson will see her collegiate athletic career come to a close, and the only activities she plans on pursuing are riding and the occasional jog. Ideally, she sees herself continuing her work in therapeutic horse-riding and plans to still participate in horse shows.

It won’t be the same for Hanson, though. The consistent competition she faced weekly will be gone, and similar to the rehabilitation of her high school ACL injury, it will not be easy.

“Basically every year of my life I’ve done a competitive sport, and I’ll be done, so it’ll be tough.”

That is unless she finds a new sport.

“I won’t be running for any particular reason. I mean, unless I decide to run a marathon or something.”

COLUMBIA Jim Larue remembers deciding one year, even though there couldnt be competition, there would still be a winner.

As commissioner for tennis in the Show-Me State Games, Larue was in charge of making sure the weekend competition ran smoothly. With days of rain preventing the tennis players from competing, he decided to flip coins to determine winners, ending the weekend on a light note. He doesnt remember what year this happened, perhaps because he has been a commissioner for 24 years.

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There is at least one commissioner for each of the 40 sports in this year’s Show-Me State Games, which end Sunday. They request the space, equipment and volunteers needed for each event as well as organize brackets, determine competition times,Bordeaux shirt, and coordinate with participants. The position is normally held by a person active in the sport. Besides running the games, commissioners build relationships with competitors.

Larue said he finds the position enjoyable because he gets to connect with people from all around Missouri. He has seen multiple generations of tennis players compete in the Show-Me State Games and looks forward to seeing familiar faces. Many of the competitors that travel to Columbia for the games are a special type of once-a-year friend.

“A couple from Grain Valley came to compete every year and when their children were old enough, they played too. Now, their children are out of college, and Im sure in a couple of years, Ill be seeing their grandchildren play,” Larue said.

“Competitors come all the way from the bootheel to the northwest corner of the state,” said Joe Garcia, the commissioner for powerlifting for more than 15 years, about the competitors he oversees. “This year was a really great one. Everything went fast and smooth and we even got a thank-you note.”

Each day as commissioner starts at 7 a.m and is a madhouse, Garcia said. He works until 4 p.m. without much of a break. He describes the weekend as “fast and furious.”

“Its a panicked pace the whole day, but I do look forward to it.” he said.

For other commissioners, the games are much more relaxed.

Kathy Sanford, owner of Show-Me Gymnastics is in her second year as gymnastics commissioner and plans to do it as long as shes happy in the job.

“I have a ball doing it,” Sanford said. “The environment is really fun and very relaxed.”

Sanford has the opportunity to reconnect with people who have been away from the sport for several years and have decided to come back because the Show-Me Games are open to most anyone who wants to compete.

“This year we have a 26-year-old mother of one,” Sanford said. “When you get out of it competitively, there is usually not a place to compete after. Its great to see so many people come out just for the love of the sport.”

William Todd, 23,Werder Bremen shirt, remembers when as a child he would help out his father Dan Todd run the table tennis competition for the Show-Me State Games. Eventually, William Todd briefly became a commissioner himself.

“My dad would give me 20 bucks to help him as commissioner, which seemed like a lot of money when I was 8 and 9 years old,” William Todd said. “It was really a great time.”

Dan Todd, who was a commissioner for the Show-Me State Games from 1986 to 2006,Real Madrid shirt, said he doesnt miss the administrative aspects of organizing the event, but rather the people he met and spent time with during that period. After each Saturday of the event, Dan Todd would go out to dinner and talk with many of the out-of-town table tennis players.

“It was like a family atmosphere, we were all in it together,” Dan Todd said. “The level of the competitor didnt matter, we were all friends.”

COLUMBIA — Mary Descenza is, in her words, “weird.” In and out of the water, the U.S. National Team swimmer is a bundle of energy, arms and flailing legs.

“As my coach said, I have a lot of moving parts,” Descenza said. “I’m kind of all over the place.”

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The exuberant butterflyer, though, has a focus befitting a swimmer in her seventh year on the National Team.

“You usually see me around the pool deck laughing and kind of just farting around, doing my thing,” said Descenza, a member of the Athens Bulldog Swim Club in Georgia. “But I always go in kind of serious, have some goals in mind. Just kind of want to go around the best times.”

Descenza arrived in Columbia for the Missouri Grand Prix this weekend leading the Toyota Grand Prix series in points. The Missouri Grand Prix marks the third of eight meets in the Grand Prix series, and the winner receives a $20,000 prize.

“I don’t keep track of that stuff,” Descenza said. “I do it because I love it, not to look at points and scoreboards. I mean,Newcastle United shirt, yeah,Werder Bremen shirt, $20,000 is nice, but I just enjoy the racing and seeing my friends at all these meets.”

Descenza was at her best Saturday, winning the 200-meter butterfly and placing third in the 200-meter backstroke. She was the only swimmer of either gender to compete in the top heat of both events, which occur back-to-back in the meet’s schedule.

Descenza had a tougher time at the Missouri Grand Prix in 2007. Though she won the 200-back,Benfica shirt, Descenza placed third in the 100-meter backstroke, the 50-meter butterfly and the 200-fly, and did not medal in four other events.

“It was a little bit more difficult,Manchester City shirt,” Descenza said. “I just didn’t swim as fast, I don’t know why. Everyone has up and down years. I’m really pleased with how I’m doing this year, so I hope I keep on staying up and swimming fast.”

Descenza is spending her time now training for the Olympics, doing butterfly sets and “getting my (butt) kicked in the weight room and the pool as always.” She said this weekend, with a fast group of swimmers and a morning finals setup she’s not used to, would be good training.

“For meets like this, I get to swim two events per day, so it really tests your endurance and strength,” Descenza said. “It’s just good training for me and prepares me for when I get to swim just one event a day, so it’ll be that much easier.”

COLUMBIA — At the end of one of the most controversial weeks he can remember in his four years with the Orange Bowl, Larry Wahl picked up his phone again.

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By then, he had just about heard it all. The questions. The complaints. The flaming arrows spewed in his direction from every medium imaginable by Missouri fans unhappy with the Orange Bowl committee’s decision.

“Are we still talking about this?” said Wahl, the Orange Bowl’s vice president of media and public relations, laughing, but probably not entirely joking.

The subject was Missouri fans’ reaction to the Orange Bowl’s selection of Kansas, a topic that became a centerpiece of college football discourse in the week following the BCS selections on Dec. 2. To the surprise of some, the Orange Bowl chose KU, which ranked two spots behind No. 6 MU in the final BCS poll. Despite the loss to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game, some Tigers fans held out hope for a BCS at-large bid to the Orange Bowl, known for its historic affiliation with the now-defunct Big Eight Conference, of which MU was a member. (MU made Orange Bowl appearances during the 1939, ’59, ’60 and ’69 seasons.)

When the MU bid didn’t materialize, with the spot instead going to a bitter rival,Werder Bremen shirt, the vitriol flowed fast.

“In past years, there hasn’t been anything that resembles what has happened with Missouri (fans),” Wahl said. “The selections were straightforward, so there hasn’t been anything in recent years. There’s no question, both teams were deserving, and that’s sure to stir passion on either side.

“We’ve received a lot of e-mails from Missouri people. They’re certainly a passionate group, and they feel strongly about their team — as they should.”

The passion was best displayed on TigerBoard, a popular online message board where fans post about issues relating to MU athletics. In the week following the announcement, topics included the cerebral, “The real winner in all of this: the Cotton Bowl,” and the colorful, “BCS = Big Crocka (expletive).”

Some went as far as posting letters to Orange Bowl officials. Members vented and tried to recruit others to do the same to make the fan base’s displeasure known en masse.

“Dear Mr. Wahl and fellow Orange Bowl employees,” wrote someone with the “mizzou fan in the bluegrass” handle. “I am attaching a link to a college football game that occurred just a few weeks ago. Although you and your employees are most likely paid very handsomely to create the best matchup for your bowl game, I think you may have not seen the game between Kansas and Missouri on November 24. If you did, I would be interested to hear your opinion/viewpoint on why Kansas received an Orange Bowl bid over Missouri.”

“If you look at Columbia as a whole, people get wrapped up into the university culture, and the university culture itself is very much wrapped up into the athletic department,” said James Thomas, who is in his first year teaching sociology of sport at MU. “Sometimes,Bordeaux shirt, you talk to locals who have never gone to MU, and there’s still an affinity for the Tigers. So when you get that wrapped up in the team, you feel a sense of collectivity with the team even if you’re not playing for them.”

Nick Witthaus, a 1992 MU graduate who maintains TigerBoard, said the reaction surprised him. Given a controversial situation,Dortmund shirt, he said he usually notices a split between those who react aggressively and those who cope with reluctant acceptance. In this instance, he said, reaction tilted overwhelmingly toward anger.

“I wasn’t expecting such a violent reaction,” Witthaus said. “I guess after the disappointment of (the Oklahoma loss), it’s just a natural outcome.

“I was expecting some reaction, and generally you can get a feel if half the people are mad and half the people are like, ‘Oh well, this happened.’ But with this one, it was like 95 percent of the people were angry.”

Todd McCubbin, executive director of the MU alumni association, said he received about 20 e-mails from MU fans confused by the Orange Bowl’s pick. He said he has done his best to educate fans that the Cotton Bowl may be a better destination for MU, considering Dallas’ proximity to Columbia compared to Miami. McCubbin said the alumni association has sold 450 travel packages to the Cotton Bowl.

“We have a lot more people who are experts in the BCS than we probably ever have. That’s a good thing, in terms of being in that mix,” McCubbin said. “Mizzou fans have been waiting a long time for a season like this. Anytime the Orange Bowl snubs their team, they’re going to take exception to that. That’s what they did. For the most part, they’ve moved on, and they’re ready to play Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl.”

Moving on sounds like a fine idea to Wahl. After a week during which rivalry banter leaked into BCS debate, kickoff can’t come soon enough.

“Sometimes I wonder if this decision had been between Missouri and West Virginia,l.a.galaxy shirt,” Wahl said, “if there would have been this much reaction from Missouri fans. I doubt it.

“It will be nice to blow the whistle and kick the ball, that’s for sure.”

COLUMBIA It took Evansville softball coach Mark Redburn a while to leave University Field on Wednesday after playing Missouri.

Several Tigers players and coaches including Missouri assistant Pete D’Amour came and shook hands with Redburn and exchanged pleasantries.

Box Scores

vs. Evansville

vs. Missouri S&T

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“I consider him a pretty good friend, we were just catching up, and I was seeing how his family was doing,” D’Amour said.

Redburn, a former assistant coach for the Tigers, returned to Columbia for the first time since leaving the team at the end of last season. The Missouri native didn’t look like a coach that lost 8-0 in five innings. He was still smiling, happy to play the team he once shared a dugout with.

“It’s special, I had three good years here,” Redburn said. “I was excited to come back and see everybody.”

“It was a little weird to see him in purple,” Missouri pitcher Kristin Nottelmann said. “But I was glad to see him.”

Missouri softball coach Ehren Earleywine joked that he was not as happy as others to see Redburn.

“It’s the same way I feel about all of them, I hate everybody I play,” Earleywine said with a smile. “As soon as they drive in the parking lot I’m pissed off. But off the field we are good buddies,Sunderland shirt, and I have a lot of respect for him as a man. But on the field it’s fight time.”

Redburn was the assistant coach for the Tigers from 2007 to 2009, and helped guide Missouri to a College World Series appearance last year. He specialized in working with catchers and pitchers, and helped with recruiting as well. He was known on the team for being fun-loving and laid back when he coached the Tigers.

“He’s just a good people person,” D’Amour said. “There is nobody that will say a bad thing about Mark and that’s a pretty good compliment for him.”

“He was very positive, always trying to encourage you,” Nottelmann said. “He was very fun to be around.”

Redburn hasn’t changed since he starting coaching Evansville. Clapping his hands he shouted words of encouragement to his players from third base, cheering them on even after one of his players swung and missed a pitch.

“Come on seven you can do it,Valencia shirt,” Redburn shouted. “That a girl, good swing.”

Redburn was a contrast to the more reserved and cerebral Earleywine when coaching the Tigers.

“Girls loved him,” Earleywine said. “He was like the nicest, warmest, fuzziest, friendliest, most well-spoken … just knew how to make people feel good. He’s a great salesman in so many ways. That’s something that I don’t have, something I don’t do well. It worked because he provided more feel good than I provided most of the time.”

Even though he was happy to see old friends,Werder Bremen shirt, Redburn admitted there was a draw back to playing his former team.

“It was tough and emotional coming back a year after I leave,” Redburn said. “It was nice to come back and see everybody, but I wasn’t looking forward to playing them.”

Even after moving to Evansville,Sevilla shirt, Ind., Redburn said he still keeps in touch with Earleywine.

“It’s a great relationship,” Redburn said. “He was very instrumental in what I know and learn now. The things we do in Evansville are exactly what I learned here. I’m very thankful to call him my friend.”

Missouri defeated Missouri S&T 8-0 in five innings in the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Nottelmann pitched her first collegiate no-hitter. She pitched five innings, striking out 10 batters. A fourth-inning error by Missouri second baseman Michaele Vock was only difference between a no-hitter and a perfect game.

Nottelmann normally has a relaxed look on her face in games, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday. She took a more aggressive approach, pressing her lips together throwing the ball and letting out a low-pitched grunt when she released it.

“I feel like a have more control when I do that, and a little more speed,” Nottelmann said. “It’s worked out for me a lot, and I’ve been sticking with it.”

Nottelmann overpowered Missouri S&T hitters with her rise ball and kept them off-balance with a change up, a pitch she has struggled throwing in the past.

“It’s just the grip really,” Nottelmann said. “Location comes with the grip. Once I get the grip down and get used to throwing it, I think I’ll be perfectly fine.”

The Tigers got some surprising offensive performances in their two games. Missouri freshman Ashley Ortega got her first hit as Tiger against Missouri S&T and also scored a run. Vock, a senior, hit her first collegiate home run, a game-winner in the fifth inning against Evansville. Vock didn’t know what to think when she touched home plate.

“I can’t even explain it,” Vock said. “I was like, ‘OK, what do I do now?’ Coming in there I’m not used to that, but it’s nice.”

Missouri (34-8, 5-5) will play a doubleheader against Central Methodist University starting at 2 p.m. Thursday at University Field.

Columbia — Eric Franklin’s six steals and 22 points lead the Hickman Kewpies (12-12) to a 69-46 victory over the Smith-Cotton Tigers (10-18) Tuesday night.

The Kewpies increased their defensive pressure in the second half and turned what was only a three-point game at halftime into a 23 point win.

Senior Ben Dierkes credits his team’s defense and Franklin for propelling the Kewpies to a big second half.

“Franklin was huge tonight,” Dierkes said. “His on-ball defensive pressure definitely fuels our team and his offense tonight carried our team to a win.”

Franklin said he was determined to advance to the next round of the district tournament and he knew his defense was going to be the key.

“I put it all on the line tonight,” Franklin said “I just didn’t want this to be the last game of our season.”

Hickman head coach Kenny Ash said good defense is what it takes to advance in a state tournament and play for another day.

“Our defense is really something we have tried to touch on this year and it seems like in the last 11 to 12 games we’ve been playing a little tougher,” Ash said. “Defense isn’t fun to play, but it wins games and the kids have finally bought into that.”

While not over looking Smith-Cotton,Werder Bremen shirt, Dierkes said the chance of playing Rock Bridge again was in the back of his mind.

“Having a chance to play Rock Bridge again definitely added a little motivation to win,Fulham shirt,” Dierkes said. “I think we have the athletes to play with them,Newcastle United shirt, we just need to play hard for 32 minutes.”

The Kewpies have now won four in a row and eight out of their last 11 games. They will look to continue their winning streak at 6:00 Thursday night in the second round of the district tournament against Rock Bridge at Rock Bridge High School.

THE INDIAN team, which is unbeaten in their group in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 so far, will meet the weakest team of the group, Netherlands, in the 25th match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 at Ferozeshah Kotla stadium in New Delhi.

At the same venue on February 28, the Dutch team lost against West Indies by a huge margin of 215 runs.

MS Dhoni-led team India is a leading contender who can lift the trophy on April 2 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai according to cricket pundits and experts. The Indian team won the inaugural match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 against Bangladesh by 87 runs.

In the next match they tied against England in spite of scoring 338 runs. Two days back, on Sunday, Dhoni and his brigade defeated Ireland by five wickets. In that match Yuvraj Singh became the first all-rounder in the World Cups, who claimed five wickets and scored 50 runs.

Netherlands have not won even a single match in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. In their first match of the campaign, they lost against England by six wickets. In the next two matches against West Indies and South Africa,Celtic shirt, the Netherland team lost by 215-run and 231-run respectively.

Once again it is likely that the Indian team will play their fourth match of the Cricket World Cup 2011 against Netherlands with two seamers and two spinners. But in this match off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is likely to be included in the playing XI in place of Piyush Chawla.

The Ferozeshah Kotla pitch will likely to help batsmen. For the last few days,Werder Bremen shirt, the weather in Delhi has become hotter. Thus,Newcastle United shirt, if Dhoni wins the toss, then he will likely prefer to set a target for visitors Netherlands at the dry Kotla wicket.

The India and Netherlands match will be played under flood lights and will start from 2:30 PM IST. Star Sports and Star Cricket will telecast live the India vs Netherlands match from 2:30 Pm onwards in English and Hindi respectively.

Here are the India and Netherland squads for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011:

India: MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Virender Sehwag(vice capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, R. Ashwin, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and S. Sreesanth.

Netherlands: Peter Borren (Capt), Wesley Baressi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari, Atse Buurman Tom Cooper, Tom de Grooth,l.a.galaxy shirt, Alexei Kervezee, Bradley Kruger, Bernard Loots, Adeel Raja, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Swarczynski, Ryan Ten Doeschate, Berend Westdijk, Bas Zuiderent.